Beefeater to March Out a Summer Edition

Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010
By Jack Bettridge

Inspiration for the added botanicals—elderflower, black currant and hibiscus—comes from the summers of the English countryside, says Beefeater. The company, which is the only gin still made in London, stayed closer to home than it did with the grapefruit-and-Asian-tea-inspired 24.

Unsurprisingly, flowery is the thrust of this gin, even as it includes the standard Beefeater botanical lineup: juniper, Seville oranges, lemon peel, licorice, coriander, angelica root, angelica seeds, almonds and orris root. The flagship gin is notoriously anchored to a dry, junipery profile. The Summer Edition is a traipse through a meadow of fruits, flowers and candy, with a very soft mouth feel for cushioning.

Meant for warm weather consumption, Summer Edition drops in alcohol from the 94 proof of Beefeater London Dry to 80 proof, a change which contributes to its lighter, softer character. Beefeater 24, at 90 proof, is the most expensive of the trio at $30. London Dry is $20 and Summer Edition $22.

The company suggests a spectrum of seasonal cocktails, including a Martini garnished with the fruits of summer:

Beefeater Summer & Cranberry
1 part gin
3 parts cranberry juice
Squeeze of fresh lime juice

Combine ingredients in a tall glass with ice. Garnish with lime wheel.

Summer Martini
3 parts gin
1 part dry vermouth

Stir together in a glass with ice until well chilled. Garnish with a blackberry and raspberry on a cocktail stick.

Summer Gin Fizz
2 parts gin
3 parts fresh ruby grapefruit juice
splash of club soda

Stir together in a tall glass with ice until chilled. Garnish with a wedge of ruby grapefruit.

Summer Lemonade
2 parts gin
3 parts homemade lemonade

Stir together in a tall glass with ice until chilled. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

There are many concrete examples of the place of the cigar in American culture, and the giving of cigars to family and friends after the birth of a son or daughter is one which has been with us for a long time.

But for how long? When did it start?

There is no commonly-accepted story about the origins of this uniquely-American custom, but a quite plausible explanation was provided by the “Little Known Facts Show” and reported by Chaz Allen in the Edmond (Ok.) Life & Leisure weekly.

Allen wrote that a box of cigars sat on the desk of U.S. President Grover Cleveland and that as Cleveland fancied chewing tobacco rather than smoking it, the box remained closed. No one – staff or visitor – was offered a cigar by the President and none were brave enough to ask for one. When would it be opened?

The question of who would be the first to get a cigar from the President became a Washington sideshow quickly enough. The answer came when Cleveland’s first child, Ruth, was born and he distributed cigars from the famous box and began the tradition of fathers handing out cigars to celebrate the birth of their children.

Great! Now you know the story . . . except it has a few problems with accuracy:

·  Cleveland was not in office at the time that Ruth, his first child, was born. Cleveland – the first Democrat to win the Presidency since the Civil War – served as the 22nd U.S. President from 1885-89, but lost to Republican Benjamin Harrison in the 1888 elections. He returned to the practice of law in New York and it was during that time that Ruth was born in 1891.

·  Allen’s story also noted that Cleveland as a tobacco chewer, but not a cigar smoker. In fact, he enjoyed cigars as well.

However, there are significant reasons to believe that Cleveland might be responsible for the famous practice of handing out cigars after births. In what passed for the gossip columns of the day, the then-49-year-old Cleveland’s 1886 marriage – while serving as President – to 22-year-old Frances Folsom was an absolute sensation, easily on the level (at that time) of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair.

Moreover, although Cleveland was a private citizen when Ruth was born in 1891, there was little doubt that he would run for the Presidency again in 1892 and, in fact, he became the only to win a second, non-consecutive term, serving from 1893-96. Thus, Ruth lived at the White House as a toddler, with her sisters Ester (1893) and Marion (1895) born during Cleveland’s second term (the Clevelands had five children in all).

Thus, “baby Ruth” was well-known to the American public as soon as she was born and any activity carried by her father in celebration of her birth (after marrying such a young bride) would have been widely reported by newspapers of the day.

So it’s quite likely that the custom of handing out cigars would have been popularized by Cleveland, although it had no doubt been done by less-well-known fathers many times before. Unfortunately, Ruth died of diphtheria in 1904.

The well-known story of the naming of the “Baby Ruth” candy bar after Cleveland’s first child is a little more suspicious. Although the Curtiss Candy Co. claimed that the candy had been named after Cleveland’s daughter, the item originated in 1921, well after Cleveland had left the White House and 17 years after Ruth herself had died. Furthermore, there is evidence that the company failed to negotiate a deal with Yankees slugger Babe Ruth, who had one of the greatest seasons in baseball history that same year (.378 batting average, 59 home runs, 171 runs batted in, 177 runs scored) but came up with the Ruth Cleveland story to allow the name to be used.

For decades, gentlemen purchased their cigars in custom-made cabinets of 500-1,000 cigars or more. Different brands competed for the most elegant designs, selling a piece of furniture as much as they were selling cigars and a sensational example was sold on eBay.

A semi-circular cabinet with double doors from the Alvarez y Garcia factory – makers of Romeo y Julieta – circa 1910 is now on auction from a Nashville, Tennessee seller July 14.

This curved cabinet has unique interior glass doors and a set of wooden exterior doors that close over them. The wood doors have the Romeo y Julieta logo on both sides and the top and bottom are exquisitely woodworked. The entire piece stands about 20 inches tall and is 11 inches wide at the back. There is some damage to the wood and a split in the back, but it closes well and is impressive to say the least.

It isn’t cheap, however. It sold for $3,500, but this is a memorable piece of cigar history to be sure.